Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Outlaw ICBM

I wanted to get peoples thoughts on this unit. I am running my M60's through a Denon 3803 and will use my progressive scan DVD player as an audio source. Using the ICMB it looks like I can get much better bass from my system by letting the ICBM manage the levels. Does anyone have any history on this unit?

I guess you have to define what you mean by better bass.

The bass management in the 3803 should be fine for CD playback.

Most folks get the ICBM for multichannel/hi-res bass management, of if there systems have no bass management or inflexible bass management.

Craig, ditto Curtis's comments. Unless you're referring to DVD-A/SACD playback and your DVD player doesn't have good bass management for those sources, the ICBM won't be of significant advantage and can't make the bass "much better".

I use an ICBM for bass management - it permits me to set the cross-over points for center, front LR, side LR and back surrounds as well as stereo sub out feature. I got it for high res playback (DVD Audio) bass management, but liked it so much, I decided to use it for all sources. The only way to do this was to place the ICBM between the amps and processor. Love it.

Interesting dilemma...my only quibble with my Marantz is the fixed crossover point of 100hz. There's a Rotel 1075 on Audiogon for $750 - add an ICBM and I'm at roughly 1K - the same budget I'd set aside for a new receiver. Hmmmm....

Get the amp. Get the amp. Get the amp. Did I mention get the amp?

So, I could be wrong, but I'm thinking, here, that Rich wants you to get the amp. But maybe not...

I use an ICBM in my 2 channel set up.The reason I got it was my preamp has no bass managment at all.This way my amp doesn't have to reproduce anything below 60hz.Its a nice piece of equipment and does offer a lot of flexability to a system.

Okay, I'm not entirely clear on this. Do you think he wants me to go for the receiver?

I just downloaded the owner's manual for the ICBM. Very, very neat. One of the things I was most confused about in the kind of setup 2x6 is describing (receiver as pre > ICBM > amp) is, "what about the LFE channel?" Outlaw, of course, made allowances for this. Very neat! Now I want one even more!

I couldn't spring for an amp until after Christmas debts have been paid, but that's looking like a very attractive proposition. Of course I'd actually have to buy two ICBMs because I'd still want one for DVD-A/SACD bass management.

I hate this hobby...

I think Radio Shack has a 6 channel switching box - so you could have two multichannel inputs into the switching box with the option of choosing between 2 multichannel sources, then a single set of multichannel outputs from the selector box into the ICBM.

I used to use a receiver as a processor, now I use a dedicated processor.